Various styli are known and typically serve in conjunction with a scribing surface that is configured to work with a corresponding stylus. Generally speaking, a stylus is typically a hand-held writing utensil that often (but not exclusively) has a pencil-like elongated form factor and that includes at least one pointed end configured to interact with the scribing surface. Using a stylus as an input mechanism with, for example, a display offers a variety of advantages over a fingertip including the opportunity for increased precision as well as an expression modality that accords with the user's own past experience with a pencil or pen.
That said, there are times when a finger-based user-interface modality may be preferred, at least by some users. In many such cases the user has corresponding preferences. That is, a given user might prefer to use a stylus-based approach with one application but a finger-based approach with another application.
Many electronic devices have both an active mode of operation and a standby mode of operation. Generally speaking, during the active mode of operation the electronic device is “on” in that the electronic device is presently ready to respond to a full panoply of user inputs and instructions. The standby mode of operation typically serves, however, to greatly reduce the electronic device's use of power. Accordingly, during the standby mode of operation the ability of the electronic device to provide information and to respond to user inputs is reduced in some meaningful way. Often (though not always), for example, the electronic device's display will be blank or even “off” and at least some user-input interfaces will not serve in their usual manner.
The specifics of what constitutes a standby mode of operation varies from one device to the next. Some devices may even support a number of different standby modes of operation. Again, however, a device's standby mode of operation is characterized by a reduced quiescent consumption of power as compared to the quiescent consumption of power during the active mode of operation, and the user interface itself offers reduced opportunities for user input.
It is known in the art to awaken an electronic device from a standby mode using a stylus. While useful in and of itself, in many cases present practices in these regards do not meet all potential user needs in all application settings.